The taxonomic position of a strain isolated from kerosene-contaminated soil in Hungary and formerly misidentified as Brevundimonas vesicularis was examined using a polyphasic approach. The isolate, designated CHB-20p(T), could be clearly assigned to the genus Chryseobacterium (family Flavobacteriaceae) on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Strain CHB-20p(T), a moderate oil degrader, was a Gram-negative, aerobic, mesophilic microbe with a temperature optimum of 28-30 degrees C. Predominant fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), summed feature 3 (comprising C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH) and iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH. Menaquinone-6 (MK-6) was the predominant respiratory quinone; MK-5 was present as a minor component. The almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain CHB-20p(T) shared 94-97 % similarity with sequences of the type strains of species of the genus Chryseobacterium. DNA-DNA relatedness between strain CHB-20p(T) and its closest relative, Chryseobacterium caeni, was lower than 46 %. Moreover, several diagnostic phenotypic properties distinguished strain CHB-20p(T) from C. caeni. On the basis of biochemical, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, isolate CHB-20p(T) represents a novel species within the genus Chryseobacterium, Chryseobacterium hungaricum sp. nov.; the type strain is CHB-20p(T) (=NCAIM B2269(T)=DSM 19684(T)).